I am not involved with any truck magazine but I have worked in newspaper and magazine sales. When I was 18 I worked for the Western Daily Press in Bristol selling classified and after 18 months moved to Shepherds Bush and joined the Haymarket publishing group for a year.
They flirted with the idea of launching a transport magazine but decided against it — I never found out why. I did some of the research into current magazines on the market of which several were owned by Reed Business Information.
One of the basic rules in magazine research was that you should be able to tell the reader from the content of the articles.
Anyway, I got tired of London, moved back to Bristol and took my Class 1.
I confess I applied for a few truck journalist roles about five years ago but was rejected. Although I was informed freelance ideas were always welcome.
Since then I have always been to busy driving but I do tend to read most of four or five magazines available.
Apologies for any offence given.
well i buy both t&d and trucking i buy truck if theres somthing of interest i used to buy comercial motor every week but ive not bought that for a while now .i had every truck mag from 1980. t&d from 82 and trucking international as it was then from when it first came out but we moved house last year and they all got recycled as tk dave is the editor of t&d i would imagine he knows the score if you read this dave i think youve got the mag spot on as a few have said t&d is for drivers and trucking a bit of both. its horses for courses you buy what ya like .although it would be good if t&d adopted LDD.one thing that i would find interesting is follow up stories on hauliers that appeared in the very first t&ds. 
I first bought TRUCK around August 77, I dont know what happened to my 70’s stuff but still have most 80’s copies. I abandoned it a couple of years ago,
which I never thought I would do, but It seemed to have totally lost its way ,trying to please everyone. But for a good LDD Phil Llewellyn remains unsurpassed.
Headlight did close down a few years back it seemed a bit more serious and was good for legal stuff and I would still subscribe if it was available.I first saw a copy in March 70 when waiting for a lift home with my brother from Londonderry Garage on the A1 after our Dads wagon broke down one night(conrod through the block ,seriously disapointing) I got a day off school out of it though. Headlight operated a drivers breakdown service at the time though I dont know who was supposed to pay for it. The picture showed an AA style Land Rover or Austin Gypsy rescue vehicle.
The first Trucking International I saw was early 85 with an Aussie roadtrain on the front and I bought that alongside T&D when that became a fulltime publication some time later, till around 10 years ago when I abandoned both. I’ve never been into that Globetrotter/Topline/Truck racing stuff but T& D clearly had some very experienced people writing articles, especially with good advice about international work. I bought both again 3 years ago and decided to go fulltime again with TRUCKING. I like the bit about old wagons at the back but they still refuse to publish drivers pay and conditions of these companies they feature. T&D did a Fleet Focus on the company I work for a few years back and although from another depot, it was accurate enough.
MT although good seems only for gaffers and like CM which seems to be two thirds adverts, I havent bought for over 20 years. Having said that the first CM I bought, from December 68 (690 powered(Leyland) Beaver on test) I still have, but gave away for pulping all the ones that followed, around 1980,They were stacked up gathering dust so I wasnt bothered at the time, total disaster I now realise. I am managing to replace a few copies from that time piecemeal but they are rare, though some thread on Trucknet did remind me that I had a copy of Cola Cowboys so I (eventually) dug that out and went through it again a few weeks back, I could’nt read it fast enough. So then I had to obtain Destination Doha off Ferdy which was excellent.
I tend to lean toward T&D for various reasons but then again I do not get to see all the UK mags on a regular basis.
As for the comments about the same articles appearing in the various mags this seems to be repeated in the continental mags as well as the same story will appear over a 3 month period in Trucker and in Fernfahrer in Germany and the same happens with Transporte Mundial and Solo Camion in Spain with the same stories eventually appearing in Truckstar in Holland.
You just about summed it up Paul, it’s not just a UK phenomenon, all the european press tend to follow the same pattern.
And with fewer small companies and expanding multi-nationals no wonder the same faces pop up again and again.
Correct me if I am wrong Craig but I seem to get the impression that most of the journalists appear to be freelance ?
If this is the case then it is obvious and logical that the articles get offered to various magazines and who pays the most gets it first followed by those who pay less .
The article would then be translated and offered to foreign publications ? or does it get offered untranslated and then the mags sort the translations out ?.
Either way if you are multi-lingual like myself and try to keep abreast of the news in all countries by buying various mags throughout Europe it does tend to make for some monotonous reading after a while 
Vascoingles:
Correct me if I am wrong Craig but I seem to get the impression that most of the journalists appear to be freelance ?
There are ‘freeloaders’ in every country but I think most of the mags still use staff journos to cover the bulk of the work. One of the problems is that a single press trip, such as a visit to drive the new Scania, will include journalists from every country who are all given the same itinerary, hence all the features read and look pretty similar.
There are of course freelancers who sell in many countries: I’ve supplied pics to Germany, France, Italy and Scandinavia, alongside the regular stuff to T&D, but I think most of us tend to stay mainly with one country.
Of course if a writer/photographer covers an interesting or unusual story it’s not unknown for the editors of the foreign mags to then ring up and get the same story, and in that case they usually buy the story in the original language and then get someone to professionally translate it. Most people on the foreign mags can do a passable job of speaking English but it’s less easy for them to handle the translation, while there are very few British journos who can speak anything other than English. George Bennett is probably the only one I can think of: he’s pretty handy at German, and I think he could get by in Arabic after doing the Middle East run back in the seventies. Like in every walk of life the amount of Brits with similar abilities to you Paul are few and far between, but those who can communicate in another language sometimes gain an advantage 
44Luke:
It’s the number one truck related mag in the UK and we’ll continue to work hard at keeping it that way.
Bold statement. I am sure the people, writers and editors behind Trucking, Transport News, and those responsible for Motor Transport and Commercial Motor (which is also Reed Business Information by all accounts) might disagree.
It’s certainly the number one driver related magazine in the UK.
Closing Truck won’t do T&D any favours because Truck is more of an enthusiasts magazine. Trucking will be the only one that will benefit because its pretty close in style.
some of the magazines quoted are not monthly magazines but weekly magazines, they will not of course be of the same figures as a monthly.
anyone can make the figures look what they want dependant upon the people questioned.
the last edition of trucking had them quoting that they were the most popular read of all those questioned.
at the show they were at that is.
on this site truck and driver take that title.
i read most of the magazines on sale in the shops including truck, truck and driver, trucking and commercial motor.
they all have something to offer the reader, with commercial motor it is the weekly update of events and happenings in the industry, news from the traffic commissioners about who has been a little naughty recently, big and small companies featured, whose closed shop and why, who to avoid because they are bad payers and being taken to court etc.
accidents and court cases, recently jobs has also been added to the back of the magazine after you have read the trucks for sale you can look for a job driving because you standa better chance of getting paid.
trucking magazine offers the chance to read about one company running two very similar trucks on the same work, with truck stats, drivers opinion, owners opinion and the trucking reporters opinion (usually bob beech i think).
a damned good write up from the editor richard simpson who is very much in tune with the industry from a drivers point of view (as of course is dave young), richard manages to add a sense of humour to his writing and often a smidgen of sarcasm aimed at the right people.
diary of a trade plater, some drivers funny tale and to finish the mag with a story of an old truck still running around.
truck and driver offers very much the same as trucking but with more for the driver to take part in, usually a competition to win something, kiddy corner for the nippers to win something, drawing board, shobba at the back and dave young near the front with his own comments on the industry.
some news stories and a company featured with star ratings.
none of the truck mags on the market are a bad read, they all have something for someone and many have something for everyone.
all are value for money and i could not pick between trucking and truck and driver, for the price of a pint of beer, what do you want?
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 1:58 pm Post subject:
BODEN SAID:
“I first bought TRUCK around August 77, I dont know what happened to my 70’s stuff but still have most 80’s copies. I abandoned it a couple of years ago,
which I never thought I would do, but It seemed to have totally lost its way ,trying to please everyone. But for a good LDD Phil Llewellyn remains unsurpassed.”
You are right in what you say. We were trying to get things back on track and next year we were planning to publish a Supertruck and many other things were planned. The last issue might bring back a few memories and there are pieces from many of the origonal TRUCK journos. Phil Llewellin has written a great book about his LDDs called Road to Muckle Fugga. We review it in the last issue and Phil has added an afternote.
We have done hand springs over the last year to keep TRUCK in the tramlines, but when a small title is part of a global publishing organisation, the turnover and revenue counts. We have been keeping our end up but if you aren’t nanny’s favourite then you don’t get muffins for tea. Or any tea at all: as it has turned out!
T & D will be carrying classic TRUCK and LDDs from time to time and Commercial Motor will also adopt some of the favourite TRUCK features. Truck in Service…One year on, Deals and the like…plus it will be running Tip-In and Reefer.
It won’t be TRUCK, but at least those popular sections of the mag won’t die. They are good publications in their own right and taking on TRUCKisms can only enhance them. I would say that but I am bias! The name will still live on all but in the shadow of the title - Commercial Motor - that it once danced upon…Anyone remember…“TRUCK runs over 75 year old”. 
If you know your TRUCK…then… ‘Keep on trucking’. Buy the last issue and send us out on a roll.
Peter
Thanks for mentioning the book Peter, I hadn’t heard of it but now I’ve just ordered it from Amazon, they have it for £13.99 which is a saving of £6.
If anybody else is looking for it on Amazon or the like you’ll find it if you do a search for,
The Road to Muckle Flugga: Great Drives in Five Continents
Done it Neil.It’s on it’s way